In The Beginning, Prior To Microcomputers
Before the advent of integrated circuits holding thousands of transistors, before
the microprocessor, and before the age of microcomputers, the computer revolution
was fueled by systems which weighed any number of tons and took up whole rooms,
being made up of thousands of vacum tubes. Names such as ENIAC, BINAC, EDSAC, and
SSEC were applied to these new machines in the late 1940's. Then with the introduction
of the transistor in the late 1950's and early 1960's, machines such as the TRADIC,
IBM 650, and CDC 1604 shrunk the size of the computer dramatically. Things shifted
yet again when DEC introduced the first minicomputer, the PDP-1, in 1960. Though a
few survive either in continued use or in museums, most of these machines survive
only in the history books and there are a few lucky enough to actually own small
pieces of them. Due to thier size, most of these systems were scrapped once they
were removed from service.